The present inventions are related to systems and methods for extending flash memory lifecycle, and more particularly to systems and methods for utilizing error correction methods to enhance the lifecycle of a flash memory.
Flash memories have been used in a variety of devices where information stored by the device must be maintained even when power is lost to the device. A typical flash memory device exhibits a number of cells that can be charged to four distinct voltage levels representing two bits of data stored to the cell. By doing this, the memory density of a given flash device can be increased dramatically for the cost of a few additional comparators and a reasonable increase in write logic. Currently, there is a trend toward further increasing the number of bits that may be stored in any given cell by increasing the number of distinct voltage levels that may be programmed to the cell. For example, there is a trend toward increasing the number of distinct voltage levels to eight so that each cell can hold three data bits. While the process of increasing the number of bits stored to any given flash memory cell allows for increasing bit densities, it can result in a marked decline in the lifecycle of the flash memory. This decline in the lifecycle of a memory device limits its use in various memory systems where the number of writes is expected to be significant.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reason, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and methods for implementing memory systems utilizing flash memory devices.